Free Falling
by Exploded Pen
Summary: Freefalling through the air, Malcolm Reed found he had only a few seconds to contemplate the fact that the end of his life was rushing to meet him in a horrifically watery style way...
1. FreeFalling

**000 Disclaimer, I own nothing at all 000 Had so much on at school and stuff like that that I haven't had much time for writing, but a few months of prodding results in this! Huge thanks go to The Libran Iniquity for her help with this :D 000**

Free-falling through the air, Malcolm Reed found he had only a few seconds to contemplate the fact that the end of his life was rushing to meet him in a horrifically watery style way. Mind on fast-forward he tried to remember the survival training he'd had. Of course it wasn't easy to concentrate with his worst nightmare moving closer and closer to him.

His feet hit the swift rushing water with a huge splash and he only just remembered to throw his arms up at the last second. The moment he hit the icy water his chest contracted painfully and he gasped in shock. Water flooded into his mouth and he flailed about panicking as he tried to break the surface. 'I'm going to die' he thought wildly as his vision began to dim. 'Oh God, I'm going to die...' With one last ditch effort he broke free and took a gasping breath before being pulled under again. He struggled under the water, desperately trying to reach the surface. He struck something hard and felt all the oxygen being forced out of his lungs. He grabbed for the unknown object and clung on for dear life, all the while trying to pull himself up. But he was so afraid, so very afraid. He pulled himself up and took a deep breath.

It was a rock. The water slapped against its surface spraying his face continuously. He clung on with desperation, his drive to live stronger than his fear of the water.

Something brushed against his leg and Malcolm jerked his leg away. He tried to pull himself up further but ended up slipping back into the water. His arms stretched out for the rock but it was too late, the water dragged him back insistently before smacking him into another rock, his head bounced off the surface and his traitorous eyes slid shut.

000

Trip remembered someone screaming Malcolm's name as the surprised Armoury Officer was flung off the cliff by the arm of something huge, hairy and really, really annoyed.

Archer grabbed the nearest heavy object his hand came into contact with and swung it with all his might at the creature advancing on him. It bounced off the creature's head causing it to stumble; another hit sent it tumbling backwards over the cliff. Trip dived over to the edge and leant over as far as he dared. "MALCOLM! MALCOLM!" he yelled. "Goddammit Malcolm!" He couldn't see his friend struggling in the water below, nor could he see him on any part of the cliff. "Oh God." Archer appeared behind him breathing heavily.

"Trip, where's Malcolm?" Archer asked breathlessly. "Where is he?"

Silently Trip pointed down at the rushing water below. Archer inhaled sharply. "Oh God...are you sure? I mean there's no way he..." Archer stopped talking abruptly and squared his shoulders. He pulled out his communicator. "Archer to Reed." No response. "Archer to Reed, Malcolm answer me!" Archer closed his eyes. "Archer to Enterprise."

"Go ahead, Captain," a static filled voice answered him.

"We've been attacked, Malcolm's missing, scan the planet for human biosigns."

There was an agonising pause. "There's too much interference, sir. Best we can do is narrow it down to an area about 4 kilometres north from your current position."

Archer turned to Trip; Trip was still searching the rushing water. "At least that means he's still alive…will a shuttlepod be able to land there?"

"Scans show dense vegetation, Captain, I don't believe a shuttlepod can land there. Travis is willing to try though."

Archer sighed. "Alright, send Travis out with a medical team, if he can't land send down a team to help us get to Malcolm on foot - fully armed."

"Yes sir."

Archer cut the communication and sighed. "Trip, you ok?"

"I'm fine," said Trip as he searched around for something.

"You're bleeding," Archer pointed out gently.

"I'll be fine."

0000

Malcolm coughed back to life, choking up a lungful of river water. He panicked for a second as he fought to breathe but then drew in a blissful breath. He lay still a moment, assessing his current condition. Well, that was easy. His chest throbbed, his head pounded and everything else seemed to ache in sympathy.

He shivered, the water hadn't been warm...the water! He shot up and stared about him wildly. The water lapped lazily against the shore, almost mocking him with its calm. He shuddered and his chest contracted painfully as he remembered fighting to the surface. He coughed again and moved away from the shoreline.

He turned his head away from the river and looked into the trees on his left. His arm twinged slightly as he groped for his communicator in his left sleeve pocket. His fingers closed around the metal casing and he pulled it out triumphantly. He flipped it open. "Reed to Enterprise." Water poured out of a tiny gap in the side. Malcolm shook it in frustration. "Reed to Enterprise!" There was no answer, no lovely voice on the other end responding to his call. "Reed to Tucker!" He prayed and crossed his fingers. There was no answer. "He's probably lost it or something...Reed to Archer! Reed to Anyone!"

The communicator lay cold and silent in the palm of his hand.

He closed his eyes and pocketed it. The wind picked up slightly and he shivered. "I need to get moving...if I keep to the river I should be able to find my way back." He glanced upstream. It was uphill all the way. Malcolm dragged himself to his feet and waited for the world to stop spinning before stumbling towards the trees.

The rational part of his mind told him to stay put, find food, find shelter, make a fire, the officer side of him reminded him that sensors wouldn't pick him up and the rest of him squashed the other two little voices and told him to keep moving in case anything else big, hairy and nasty tried to eat him.

Remembering the hairy beast that knocked him off the cliff in the first place made Malcolm freeze in his steps. "I need a weapon," he mumbled to himself his hand finding nothing in his phase pistol holster.

0000

Travis expertly piloted the shuttlepod over the planet. "He should be in this area..."

"Sensors aren't working."

Travis nudged the shuttlepod closer. "I don't see anywhere to land, there's nothing but tree's here. Can anyone see him?"

There were several negative responses from the back of the shuttlepod. Travis opened a communication. "Shuttlepod One to Archer."

"Give me good news, Travis."

"Sir, there's nowhere for us to set down but I'm gonna do one more flyover to see if we can locate his exact position."

"Let me know if you spot him. Archer out."

Less than ten minutes later the shuttlepod landed and the search party spilled out.

"We couldn't land any closer, sir," said Travis as he approached. "The forest is too dense, we didn't see him either but he could be in the trees somewhere."

"Ok," Archer nodded; he walked up to the search party and shrugged off the medic who tried to see if he was alright. "If we follow the river's path we should reach him. Now we don't know if he's injured or not so speed is of the essence here."

"We've got a first aid kit and supplies, sir," said Travis.

Trip noticed each one had a phase pistol.

0000

Malcolm stared critically at his homemade 'spears'. He'd picked up the strongest bits of wood he could find, not particularly sharp, or spear-like but he figured that if nothing else he could at least beat whatever was trying to kill him round the head a few times before he was actually killed.

Surveying his 'spears' Malcolm could almost hear his mother's shrill voice in the background exclaiming 'They're as much use as a chocolate fireguard!' Sighing he turned and started the trek up the hill ignoring his body's protests at the pain, as far as he was concerned if it didn't have anything nice to say it should just stop broadcasting messages of 'Ow, that's quite painful and possibly broken, please don't use me'.

He made slow progress, even when he gave in and used one of his 'spears' to help him, he found he had to keep checking his proximity to the river, only everytime he did so he was reminded of the terror of falling into it's murky depths. Everytime he looked he found himself fighting the instinct to purposely veer as far away from the edge as possible. Also to make matters worse, it seemed to be getting steeper and a wind was picking up, blowing against him. He had to fight the land, the air and his own shivers just to put another foot forward.

His uniform seemed to be one giant icicle; the fabric setting like cement another gust of wind set a fresh chill running through him. "It'll be a sodding miracle if I don't get a cold, flu or worse," he said aloud.

Suddenly, Malcolm heard a low growl to his left; he whipped round regretting every second of quick movement and saw...

Absolutely nothing.

Spooked he watched for a few more seconds before turning back on his path and quickening his pace. Every so often he found himself checking the forest around him, he couldn't hear anything nearby, couldn't see anything but he couldn't shake the feeling that someone - or something - was watching him.

He'd been walking for a good three hours before he allowed himself a five minute breather, or rather he stumbled on a hidden tree root and his body demanded rest by refusing to move. "Ok, five minutes."

That's when he felt it, a sort of tremor in the ground and heard a growl in the distance. Malcolm didn't care what he wanted anymore; he leapt to his feet and ran up the path like the hounds of hell were snapping at his heels, only allowing himself a cursory glance at the river position every few minutes. Of course he wasn't entirely sure how long he could keep running, all things internal were sending out intense messages of 'Please stop running, I'm either bleeding or broken...no really, I mean it...stop!'

He crashed to a halt once more being sent flying by the local plant life. He gasped like a drowning goldfish for several minutes before being able to move again. Even then everything that hurt throbbed insistently and everything that didn't throbbed in sympathy anyway. He was tired, hungry, thirsty and in pain but he knew he didn't have much choice, if he stayed still then the mate/brother/sister or mother/father (He really hoped not on this one, the thing that'd slung him off the cliff had been big enough, he didn't want to have to cope with anything bigger) would come and rip him into easy to eat Malcolm sized chunks of human goodness. Either that or he'd freeze to death and never be found by anyone from Enterprise, assuming they'd still be looking for him.

Pushing his morbid thoughts aside he rose to his feet painfully, hissing as several something's protested loudly. He glanced at the river and sighed. Planting one foot in the other had become a game of lets-see-how-long-I-can-walk-before-I-collapse-in-a-heap-and-die; of course the wind and terrain weren't helping matters at all. If anything the path seemed to be getting steeper.

Malcolm paused and listened intently a moment. There was no growl in the distance, no growl nearby, no movement nearby save for the swish of the trees being blown about by the wind.

0000

"Assuming Malcolm's conscious and moving under his own power, he should have tried to follow the path back up to where we stopped, using the river as a guide," said Archer taking a sip of water from one of the bottles Travis' search team had brought. "If he isn't conscious we should find him by following the river path anyway." He left the 'Before anything else does...' unspoken.

"It's been hours, Captain," said Travis in a low voice to Archer, dropping back slightly behind the others. "If he's -"

Archer cut him off." Lets not give up on him yet, Ensign."

Travis nodded. He moved his way back up to the front with the Captain and walked along beside Trip.

Trip didn't actively acknowledge their presence, his focus firmly on the task in hand. Their progress was steady but slow, the steep path meant they couldn't move at speed without falling flat on their faces.

Travis found himself contemplating numerous 'what ifs' as they strode down the path. What if Malcolm was unconscious? What if he was awake but not thinking straight and wandering deeper into the forest? Travis shuddered; if that was the case they would probably never find him. He forced himself to focus on the positive, that Malcolm was alive and currently trying to get back up the path to find them.

Trip suddenly stumbled, Archer made as if to grab him but missed by mere inches as Trip toppled forward, slamming into the ground and sliding forwards. Trip rolled over as he fell slamming into what felt like every plant in the entire forest as he fell, the path suddenly got so steep that he began to increase in speed the cries of the search team fading as he fell.

He collided with something and finally came to a halt, battered, bruised and bleeding, lying partially on something that was cursing a blue streak and coughing painfully. Trip gasped for breath.

Meanwhile insistently weak hands pushed him and his head hit the ground with a thud. It took a moment for him to find his voice again.

"Hey," Trip mumbled offering a small grin. "I've come to rescue you."

Then he passed out.

"Rescue my arse!" Malcolm grumbled coughing painfully.

He lay still a moment trying to work up the courage for movement; he was in enough pain just lying still.

He shivered. Looked like Enterprise had sent out a search party for him, sure Trip had probably taken his ribs from cracked to broken by falling on him, but it was the thought that counted.

Malcolm turned his head towards Trip. "Trip…Trip, wake up." He moved his arm and prodded Trip's arm experimentally. Trip didn't move.

Malcolm tried to roll into a seated position but failed miserably, lungs burning he fell back onto the ground.

000

The search party pressed on quickly, moving as fast as they dared down the steep terrain following Trip's path of destruction through the forest. Archer was so focus on getting to Trip and Malcolm, that he failed to notice the huge, hairy, nine foot tall, angry monster barrel towards them till the others began firing on it.

He brought up his own phase pistol just as a huge hairy arm threw him backwards into a nearby tree. Seeing stars, Archer only just managed to roll out the way in time as the massive beast finally fell at his feet, its coat smoking in places from repeated phaser fire.

"Is that what attacked you before, Captain?" Travis asked his eyes wide as he stared at the smoking corpse.

Ensign Bennett helped Archer to his feet and the Captain studied the corpse. "It's slightly bigger than the one that attacked us before," he said finally. "But lets keep moving, and keep an eye out, there's probably more of them out here."

The search party pressed on moving excruciatingly slowly down the steep path of destruction taken previously by Trip. "Like a trail of breadcrumbs," Archer muttered.

"Why do you think that…thing attacked us?" Ensign Bennett asked casting a nervous glance behind them.

"We're probably trespassing on its territory," Travis offered helpfully.

"I don't want its territory, I just want my crewmen back," Archer muttered frowning.

The rest of the team fell silent.

000

Malcolm leaned against the tree, it had taken what felt like hours to get stood up and the second he managed it, various body parts started signing petitions to lay down again.

A rustle nearby caused his head to snap up.

It was back.

Not the same beast as before, although it was hard to tell as all he really remembered from that encounter was seeing a bird's eye view of the river. It wasn't as angry either, in fact it looked positively cute.

Oh, and it was 3ft tall.

Malcolm fought off a sudden urge to giggle. The mini-beast moved forward sniffing at the air with decided interest; it ignored Trip completely and made a bee-line for Malcolm.

It reminded him of a dog as it shot towards him, sniffing his crotch with interest. The only thing that prevented him from making a sudden move and darting away was the love of his ability to still have children at some point in his life.

And Trip was still unconscious on the floor too.

The mini-beast purred before relieving itself on Malcolm's boot.

"URGH!"

There was a soft snicker from the forest floor. "Looks like you're a marked man, Mal," Trip mumbled grinning.

A bird flew overhead and the cry of outrage from Trip as the bird crap hit his uniform proved to Malcolm that there was in fact a God.

A burst of laughter escaped his lips but he stopped abruptly as everything resumed its 'Sit down you stupid moron' protest jig.

Trip struggled into a sitting position, staring in disgust at his uniform and wincing. Malcolm shivered and let himself slid slowly down the tree.

"You alright?"

Malcolm hesitated a moment before shaking his head. "No. You?"

Trip stared at the mini-beast. "Not really." He shifted his position till he was sat beside Malcolm. "You're freezing!"

"I did land in a river," Malcolm shuddered remembering the water surrounding him threatening to –

"Think it'll bring mama to us?" Trip asked gesturing towards the mini-beast.

Malcolm blinked. "It wouldn't surprise me." He yawned. "How far did you fall?"

Trip stared at him in disbelief. "I have no idea; I was too busy falling at the time!"

"I don't think I should've stood up," said Malcolm finally. "All that effort and I only ended right back on my arse again."

Trip winced and shifted his position slightly. Malcolm glanced at Trip's cuts and bruises. "We should really clean those."

"With what?" Trip asked "I don't see any water round here, could use a drink though."

Malcolm gave him a half smile. "There's half a ton of river water in my uniform if you want it. You could probably suck it if you were desperate."

"You want me to drink your uniform!"

Malcolm glanced over at the mini-beast and then down at his urine covered trouser leg. "Well maybe not my trousers, unless you want essence of alien creature…"

Trip chuckled in disbelief; Malcolm let his eyes slide shut. Trip poked him. "Don't sleep."

Malcolm gave a long suffering sigh. "Easy for you to say, you've already been asleep."

Trip poked him again nudging a tender spot, Malcolm hissed in pain and his eyes snapped open.

"I wasn't asleep," Trip stated firmly.

Malcolm scowled. "As I remember it, you crashed into me, claimed it was a rescue and closed your eyes. Asleep, unconscious, practically the same thing."

The mini-beast suddenly howled mournfully. Malcolm and Trip jolted in shock. From somewhere in the distance there was a commanding response.

"That did not sound good." Trip pulled himself to his feet with difficulty. "I guessing baby alien monster just called for its mommy."

Trip reached down and hauled Malcolm to his feet. They both clung onto each other waiting for the initial pain to pass.

"C'mon we gotta get moving," said Trip, he glanced at Malcolm in concern. "You can move right?"

Malcolm squeezed his eyes shut a second before nodding. "I've got no choice."

The mini beast howled again, Trip and Malcolm gripped hold of each other and began moving. Both acutely aware of the pain each step cost them.

000

Archer's head snapped up when he heard a mournful howl echoing across the forest only to have a tree branch snap back in his face.

"Sorry, sir," Ensign Bennett flushed furiously.

Archer held up his hand to silence the party as an answering call whipped through the forest. Nearby birds flew off in surprise.

"Sounds like the same thing as before," said Travis quietly.

"Lets keep moving," Archer ordered.

Another howl had the search party pick up their pace dramatically, almost on the verge of falling themselves they moved swiftly down the path of destruction left by Trip.

"I see them!" Travis cried joyfully pointing.

In the distance they just managed to make out two figures dressed in blue stumbling slowly forwards.

Archer heaved a sigh of relief. They kept moving, slipping and sliding down the steep terrain, watching Malcolm and Trip move slowly and painfully towards them.

Another devastated howl ripped through the forest, it sounded louder, nearer this time. Hand gripping hold of his phase pistol, Archer kept moving sparing only the barest glances at the rest of the search party to ensure they were all still together.

Travis waved as they neared Trip and Malcolm.

"Sirs," he cried breathlessly, "we were just on our way to rescue you!"

He stopped. Bruised, battered, bleeding, panting and sweating heavily, neither man seemed able to respond. Trip waved half heartedly before stumbling forward with Malcolm.

"What happened?" Archer asked taking Malcolm's weight off Trip who was practically supporting them both. He noted a rising smell of urine and resisted the urge to wrinkle his nose. The white splat on Trip's chest didn't go unnoticed either.

"Don't," Trip grunted. "Just…don't."

Malcolm glanced at Travis who was staring at the dark patch on his trousers and wrinkling his nose slightly. "Yes!" He snapped wheezing. "It's urine! I was pissed on by a local animal, alright!"

Trip started laughing and sank to his knees giggling helplessly. Malcolm scowled. "You can't…laugh! You were…shat on by a…bird!"

Archer let his jaw drop as both of the injured men burst into helpless laughter, wheezing and gasping.

"Sir," Malcolm said panting heavily. "I'd really…appreciate it…if we could go…see Phlox now…"

Archer merely nodded unsure of what else to say…what else could he say?

**000 Please Review! Oh and an epilogue is possible :D 000**


	2. Make Like A MiniBeast

**000 Disclaimer, I own absolutely nothing! 000 Whoa! Huge thanks to everyone that reviewed! Well, here it is the epilogue :P Hope everyone enjoys it :D 000**

Bliss. Total utter drugged bliss. Malcolm smiled drunkenly at the ceiling. "This is what dreams are made of, Trip."

Trip raised an eyebrow and glanced across at Phlox. "How many drugs did you give him again?"

Malcolm blinked. "Give me even more, Phlox, and I might be able to forget what it felt like with the commander right on top of me!"

Trip pulled an expression of mock hurt. "But Mal, I thought we had a good thing going back there, me, you and our pet mini-beast."

Malcolm snorted and closed his eyes. "It's a good thing we got rid of the damn thing; housetraining it would've been hell on my trousers."

"Yeah," Trip grinned. "It wouldn't have been too cute when it got bigger either."

Malcolm tutted and opened his eyes again. "Trip, a mini-beast is for life, not just for Christmas."

Trip chuckled, the doors to sickbay opened. Travis, Hoshi and Archer poked their heads round the door. "Are they up to visitors?" Archer asked smiling.

"We sure are," said Trip quickly before Phlox could reply.

"Not for too long though," Phlox added with a warning look in Trip and Malcolm's direction, only one of whom nodded sombrely in response.

"Glad you two are ok," said Travis smiling broadly.

Malcolm nodded seriously. "We're fine, Travis." He had a brief vision of the water rushing up to meet him and shuddered. "Absolutely fine."

Hours later Malcolm found himself staring up at the ceiling of sickbay. He was pretty sure he should be resting, but the general happy high from the pain medication Phlox had given him had worn off.

Now everything ached, and he couldn't shift the memory of being thrown around in the river. He sighed quietly and closed his eyes.

"Malcolm? You're not fine, are you?" Trip's voice floated across the room.

"Not really," Malcolm admitted softly.

Trip turned took look at Malcolm. He smiled. "You will be."

"I know."

Malcolm felt like he should say something further, but then he realised, there's only so much emotion you can cram into one day before you make like a mini-beast and piddle on the nearest trouser leg.

**000 Please review! 000**


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